Antoni Czortek
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Antoni "Kajtek" Czortek (1915–2003) was a Polish boxing champion, one of the Polish legends of this sport.[1] Czortek was a 1939 silver medalist of Amateur Championships of Europe, multiple champion of Poland and participant of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. He is also remembered due to his heroic struggle for life in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
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[edit] Early years
Czortek was born on July 2, 1915, in Grudziądz (German: Graudenz), then part of the German Empire. He started his career in the local club GKS Grudziądz, but soon afterwards, his talent was noticed in Warsaw. He moved to the capital of Poland and represented the team of Skoda Warszawa (team's name was in 1936 changed into Okęcie Warszawa). Finally, after World War Two, he settled in Radom, where he fought for Radomiak Radom, and then become a successful coach.
His name was known to all boxing fans in Poland in the 1930s and late 1940s, as he participated in 23 official international boxing matches, out of which he won eighteen fights, lost four and tied one. In 1936 he took part in the Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, in the bantamweight class. In the first round he beat French boxer Bonnet, but in the second round he lost to South African fighter Hannan.
Czortek was much more successful during the 1937 European Amateur Boxing Championships. That year, in Milan, Italy, he was fourth in the bantamweight, losing to the future champion, Anton Osca from Romania. Two years later, during the 1939 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Dublin, he won silver, after beating Koebi from Estonia and Genot from Belgium. In the final fight, Czortek lost to Patrick Dowdall from Ireland.
In the 1930s Czortek was a top boxer in his homeland, winning his first gold at the age of nineteen, in 1934 in Poznań. He was a champion of Poland three times in the interwar period (1934, 1938, 1939) (he would also win a national championships in 1949, after the war); he had numerous silver and bronze medals (he was second in the Polish championships in 1935 and 1948, and third in 1936).
[edit] Fighting for his life in Auschwitz
During the Polish September Campaign, Czortek fought together with his division near the border town of Wieluń. After Poland’s defeat, he returned to Warsaw, and hid there, using the name Antoni Kamiński.[1]
The Gestapo was feverishly looking for him, and after some time, the boxer had to leave the city and stay in the countryside near Grójec, with his wife’s family. Shot in the leg by a German patrol (from then on he limped until death), Czortek was recognized and sent to Auschwitz. His heroic struggle for survival is still remembered in Poland. Czortek, who had the number 139559, was forced by the SS guards to participate in boxing matches.[2][3] Altogether, he took part in fifteen fights, most of them with much heavier inmates, and an SS trooper named Walter. The last fight was crucial, as in case of defeat, the Germans pledged to kill him. Some time in 1944 he was transferred to Mauthausen-Gusen, and in the spring of 1945 was freed by the U.S. Army.
[edit] After the war
Upon returning to Poland, Czortek settled back in Warsaw, but in 1947, after losing a fight to an unknown boxer from Częstochowa, he left the capital and moved to Radom.[4]
As he later told reporters, he was too ashamed to stay in Warsaw after his unexpected loss, and gladly accepted the offer from Radom. His wife was a native of Warsaw and did not want to move, but they were promised a two-bedroom apartment and she relented.[1]
Czortek fought until 1949, winning the Polish national championship. He then became a coach in Radom, teaching amongst others the Olympic champion Kazimierz Pazdzior. Czortek was a well-respected person, being made an honorary citizen of Radom, and was frequently invited to galas and banquets.
He died on January 15, 2003, in Radom, and was buried at a local cemetery.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c (Polish) Czortek, Antoni, 2004-01-19
- ^ (English) James Anthony Mangan, Sport in Europe: politics, class, gender, Routledge, 1999, ISBN 0714649465, Google Print, p.243
- ^ (Polish) Wojciech Lipoński Europejski charakter sportu
- ^ (Polish) Którzy odeszli, sport.pl, 2004-10-29
